Spring flowers and decorating biscuits.

As the Winter rains start to dwindle it makes way for the Spring sun. Every day I witness new flowers budding either in my own garden or when I am out bushwalking. The earth seems to come alive at the start of Spring. The wildlife is a lot noisier, particularly the birds are quite loud and talkative! The sun comes out for longer and it brings a much-welcomed warmth after a cold and rainy Winter season.

I planted some flowers a few months ago in hopes that by spring they will have started to bring some much-needed colour into my garden. Even though it has a long way to go there are certainly hints of these plants feeling quite at home in the space they have been planted.

I like to choose flowers and plants with a dual purpose. Herbs obviously smell fantastic and they are edible too. I have a small, manageable vegetable patch with potted tomatoes and eggplant to help bulk out salads. And, of course, the flowers can also be eaten safely. I chose a vibrant purple and mauve pansy, however, the purple ones haven't been attacked by bugs so I used these today.

I saw some shortbread biscuits decorated with pansies recently and they were so pretty I had to try them myself.

The flowers must be pressed and very flat so I lay them between pages of a heavy book for about half an hour. They could be pressed for a few hours but I was impatient.

Choose your favourite recipe with a subtle flavour such as shortbread or even custard biscuits could work. And lay the flower on the biscuits while they are still warm but not hot. This will help the flower naturally adhere to the biscuit

You can sprinkle some sugar or brush a sugar glaze ontop.

I always feel inspired when baking with flowers, I'm not sure why. I suppose it's because they are such a natural and pretty way to decorate just the usual simple recipe. Some other safe flowers to decorate with are Lavender, Rose petals, cornflower, Chamomile and Marigold. What do you think? Will you try decorating with flowers this Spring?

A cup of Lavender Tea is a lovely way to relax in the afternoon.